Born in the Netherlands on July 24, 1974, raised in Mexico City, and now living in New York, is the daughter of writer Homero Aridjis and Betty Ferber de Aridjis, an environmental activist & translator. Eva Aridjis left Mexico City when she was 18 to go study Comparative Literature at Princeton University, and then she got an MFA in Film and TV at New York University (1996–2001). While at NYU she made several short films, including "Taxidermy: The Art of Imitating Life" and "Billy Twist", both of which played at the Sundance Film Festival and dozens of other festivals around the world. An activist for many of Mexico City's street children, in 2003 she made the film "Niños de la Calle" ("Children of the Street") to bring attention to the epidemic.[1] The documentary was nominated for 2 Mexican Academy Awards (Arieles), and won the Best Feature Documentary prize at the Morelia Film Festival in 2003. Since making this movie in 2001, Aridjis has stayed in contact with the protagonists. Eva wrote and directed her first narrative feature film entitled The Favor, starring Frank Wood and Ryan Donowho, in 2004. The film had its premiere at the CineVegas Film Festival in June 2006, where it won a prize. Ryan Donowho also won the "Best Actor" prize at the San Diego Film Festival for his performance in the film. "The Favor" was released theatrically in Mexico in 2007 and in the United States in 2008 and is currently airing on the Sundance Channel. Aridjis's second feature documentary, about a Mexican religious cult, is entitled "La Santa Muerte" ("Saint Death") and is narrated by Gael García Bernal. "La Santa Muerte" premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2007 and has screened at festivals all over the US, Latin America, and Europe, winning the best documentary award at the Trieste Film Festival in Italy. Aridjis's second narrative feature, "Los Ojos Azules" ("The Blue Eyes"), was shot entirely on location in Chiapas, Mexico and tells the story of a young American couple (played by Allison Case and Zachary Booth) who travel there and have an encounter with a shape-shifting witch (played by Ofelia Medina). The film premiered at the Morelia Film Festival and features an original score by J.G. Thirlwell. Aridjis taught Screenwriting in the Graduate Film department at New York University and has just completed her fifth feature-length film, the documentary "Chuy, El hombre lobo" (Chuy, The Wolf Man) about a Mexican family with congenital hypertrichosis.